Georgia to reform the Prosecutor’s Office

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s PM wants to start consultations about institutional reform of the Prosecutor’s Office which has long been criticized for political bias.

Apart from the Prosecutor’s Office itself, the consultations will include law enforcement bodies, ministries, the European Union, UNDP, international organizations and non-governmental organizations.

Irakli Garibashvili instructed Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani to set up a task group to work on the reform. Discussions will begin on December 26.

“Our main goal is to form an effective mechanism of prosecutor’s bodies to fight against crime, but also it serves to strengthen the rule-of-law principle,” he said.

Georgia went through a phase of justice reforms over the last decade that included training of judges and prison staff, but the Prosecutor’s Office was shielded from this process and remained an elusive body that frequently used covert surveillance to pursue its investigations.

It was criticized for being a tool of political repression of regime critics, a reputation that was carried over to the new Georgian Dream government that came to power two years ago.

Ombudsman Ucha Nanuashvili wrote in a report December 10 that there remains legitimate questions with respect to the impartiality of the Prosecutor’s Office and that it is closed in nature.